June 23, 2025, New York/Geneva - Today, a group of 15 leading human rights and legal organizations released an open letter urging an end to the current privatized, militarized aid delivery model operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) and calling for a return to internationally recognized humanitarian channels through the United Nations across the occupied Gaza Strip. The letter also warns all individuals and entities involved—including State actors, private security contractors, consulting firms, and donors—of potential legal liability for complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide.

“It is immoral and inhuman when those committing the genocide take responsibility to feed those whom they have starved, while did not acting according to the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures to allow humanitarian aid and food to enter Gaza,” said Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR). “They are using the GHF to humiliate, degrade and kill daily tens of starving people. This is a deliberate crime by the immoral army of the Israeli occupation supported by western colonial partners. Palestinians deserve dignity, justice and self determination. Stop the ongoing massive killing, destruction, displacement and famine. Stop the genocide.”

The letter highlights that the GHF model, established after the suspension and exclusion of neutral United Nations agencies such as UNRWA and UNICEF, as well as numerous international humanitarian NGOs long active in Gaza, is being implemented with the backing of Israel and the United States and relies on private military and security companies to control aid delivery. According to the signatories, this approach requires Palestinian civilians to travel long distances to a handful of “distribution hubs” where they must undergo identity checks, and exposes them to violence and the risk of forced displacement. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured while seeking aid. These dehumanizing, dangerous and repeatedly deadly conditions, the signatories warn, fundamentally violate the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence that underpin international humanitarian action.

“Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the weeks since GHF began its dehumanizing, militarized “distribution hubs” in coordination with Israeli forces. This tragic loss of life and injury to thousands more was foreseeable,” said Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher. “Today, leading human rights and legal organizations with a track-record of seeking accountability for international crimes has one message for GHF and its collaborators:  if it continues its deadly, militarized operations, legal consequences will follow, whether in the United States or beyond.”

The signatories remind all actors—whether operating on the ground or supporting GHF from abroad—that any participation in, or facilitation of, serious international crimes—particularly the forcible transfer of civilian populations, or conduct that contributes to the ongoing crime of starvation—may expose individuals and entities to civil or criminal liability under national laws in states exercising universal jurisdiction. 

“This model not only violates core humanitarian principles—it exposes all those who enable or profit from it to real risk of prosecution for complicity in war crimes, including the forcible transfer of civilians and the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Legal accountability for these acts is clear and inescapable under international law,” said Philip Grant, Executive Director of TRIAL International.

The letter also urges donors, consultants, and private contractors to immediately withdraw from any involvement with the GHF scheme and to support aid models that uphold international humanitarian law and the core standards of humanitarian action. The groups close by calling on the international community, civil society and humanitarian professionals to press the immediate opening of Gaza and a comprehensive ceasefire.

In addition to the Center for Constitutional Rights and TRIAL International, the signatories are: Al Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Australian Centre for International Justice, Center for Justice and Accountability, Centre for Applied Legal Studies, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Global Legal Action Network, Guernica 37 Chambers, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights, Medico International, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, and Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice.